Week 4 - March 31 I Shall Be Love

Part 3: “I Shall Be Love”

Chapter 10: Searching for the Science of Love

1. Share if you’ve ever seen hospitality or welcoming initiatives struggle to get off the ground or gain momentum (pp. 140–44). Why do you think hospitality and welcoming efforts struggle? What do you think the solution might be?
2. Discuss how your community struggles or excels in extending hospitality. What are you doing well? What are you struggling with?
3. The chapter argues that hospitality begins not with a policy, program, ministry, or service project but as a daily, habit-forming practice (pp. 140–44). Discuss what such a daily, habit-forming practice might look like.
4. In Story of a Soul, Thérèse describes her “Little Way” as a “science of love” (p. 150). If your community was going teach a class on the “science of love,” what should be the first lessons, experiments, and experiences for the students?

Chapter 11: The Heart of the Church

1. Have you ever had a struggle similar to Thérèse’s, where you felt guilty about not doing more for God in your life (pp. 151–53)? Share that story.
2. Pick a random moment from your day when you are with people—at home, at work, or out in the world. (Bonus points if you pick an irritating or boring moment with others.) Share these moments with the group and describe what doing “a little thing with great love” would look like in that moment (pp. 157–62).
3. Hospitality Homework: Commit to doing “a little thing with great love” this week. Be specific! Come back and share your experience with the group.

Chapter 12: The Elevator to Jesus

1. Make a list of activities people engage in when they want to improve and invest in their relationship with God. Circle activities on this list that involve improving and investing in our relationships with other people. Reflect on how and why these lists overlap, or fail to (pp. 163–68).
2. Discuss our temptation to “over-spiritualize” our relationship with God by ignoring “the social and interpersonal aspects of our relationship with God” (pp. 164–68).
3. Following Thérèse’s practice, where in your life can you start offering a kind word to make a sad soul bloom (pp. 168–72)?
4. Share a story where you’ve felt an irritation similar to Thérèse’s experience with the sister making the clicking sound (pp. 172–75). Describe how wrestling with irritation and practicing patience in moments like these are practices of hospitality.
5. Hospitality Homework: Commit to “seeking out” someone this week to share a kind word or a smile. Be specific! Come back and share your experience with the group.